Tag Archives: Montel Williams

Marshall Crenshaw: The rocker who had a hit with 1981’s Someday, Someway–and played Buddy Holly in La Bamba—drops in on Icon Fetch host Tony Peters to chat about playing John Lennon in the road production of Beatlemania!, and about his upcoming album.

Mint Condition: The R&B quintet from St. Paul, Minn.—who charted in the ‘90s with tracks like If You Love Me and Ready or Not—drops in on host Suncera Johnson to chat about their new single Caught My Eye, and about their house-band gig on TV One’s Way Back When.

Dan Patrick: The co-host of NBC’s Football Night in America, who also hosts an eponymous show on Premiere Radio Networks—and writes for Sports Illustrated—drops in on Milford CT Radio to preview the 2011 gridiron season.

Montel Williams: The former talk-show king chats about living with multiple sclerosis. “One of the symptoms is that about 30 to 40 percent of us feel something called an ‘MS hug,’” he tells Living Smart & Well. It happened to me in Las Vegas… I thought I was having a heart attack.”

Jesse Epps: The former AFSCME national organizer (circled), who was a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King—and was at the minister’s side when he was shot in 1968—sits down with host Joyce Barrie to commemorate our slain leader during Black History Month.

Although he retired from TV nine months ago, Montel Williams continues to be an inspiration to millions.

“They used to send me into a depression that would last for days,” Montel tells us of his “MS hugs.”

His most recent cause?

Helping people with chronic pain better manage their afflictions, both physically and emotionally.

It’s a topic Montel knows firsthand, having been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999 – which eventually forced him give up the phenomenally successful Montel Williams Show after 17 years.

Since then he has written a series of self-help books, his latest titled Living Well Emotionally: Break Through to a Life of Happiness.

On this week’s edition of Living Smart & Well, Montel recounts to host Inez Bracy how he developed the mental tools to prevent MS from sending him spiraling into depression.

“One of the symptoms of MS . . . is that about 30 to 40 percent of us feel something called an ‘MS hug.’ That’s when the signal from the brain to the muscles in the extremities can be impaired and impeded,” he says.

“Sometimes, if the signal does not get through to you, your diaphragm does not open and close when you try to breathe.

“That can be one of the most ex- cruciatingly painful things in the world. And when the temperature goes above 85 degrees – it’s like when a computer overheats – so does my brain and I start to shut down.

“It happened to me in Vegas for an event. The temperature outside was like 107 degrees and I got out of a car and thought I was going to die by the time I hit the door. I thought I was having a heart attack.”